So What Happened to Google Music, Anyway?
October 17, 2011
By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor
You may recall hearing back in May that Google (News - Alert) was launching its own music store. And then you may be mystified about why you haven't heard much else.
Called Music Beta (or sometimes Google Music), the service, which will allow users to stream music to their desktops or their Android (News - Alert) devices, hasn't been without its hiccups. As of today, the service still doesn't allow users to actually purchase music, only to upload their own music to the cloud and store it centrally and play it from there. It also offers automatic caching which will allow users to play their music on mobile devices more easily.
But it's primarily been about competition, writes Digital Trends particularly from European service Spotify, which has surged forward with a strong integration with Facebook (News - Alert) and an enormous catalog of music.
However, Google hasn't given up in the face of challenge, and the rumors abound that Google's music store will open in the next few months: possibly, in time for Christmas reports Digital Trends. The trick has been to forge ahead with partnerships music labels will find attractive, and Google has been using its YouTube (News - Alert) property to try and create music “channels” that the artists themselves will find tempting. (As Google itself says on YouTube, “With 800 million people per month coming to YouTube, you have a pretty big stage to share your music, and now we’re adding features to also make YouTube your box office, merchandise table and music store.”)
The new features Google talks about including an online merchandise store (the Merch Store), which will allow artists and their labels to sell everything from merchandise like t-shirts and posters, digital downloads, concert tickets and even “unique experiences” like contests in which fans will get to meet the artist. YouTube is also offering a program that will allow independent artists and labels to more easily become YouTube partners, sharing revenue when content is played.
It would appear to be part of Google's effort to reposition YouTube as less of a forum for amateur videos and cute cats and more of a place to turn to for professional video content and music. But don't worry: the cute cats will still be there.
Tracey Schelmetic is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Tracey's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by Rich Steeves